I used the word "hodgepodge" in an email today, and I then wondered where the word came from. Etymology.com says this:

quote:

1426 (hogpoch), alteration of hotchpotch (c.1386), from a legal term in Anglo-Fr. (attested from 1292) for collecting of property in a common pot before dividing it, from O.Fr. hochepot "stew, soup," first element from hocher "to shake," from a Gmc. source (cf. M.H.G. hotzen "shake").

From Anglo-French it is a legal term, but from Old French it's "stew or soup?" Granted, with the legal term there is a collecting of property in a common pot, but still the two concepts seem quite different to me. Did it really mean a "stew" or "soup," do you think, or was that a metaphor?

I infer from the OED entry that its earlier use was for the stew, then later in Anglo-Norman it was a legal term.

quote:

< Anglo-Norman and Middle French hochepot (French hochepot) dish containing a mixture of many ingredients, especially kind of stew made with minced beef or goose and various vegetables (c1214 in Old French), in Anglo-Norman also (in legal use) reunion and blending together of properties in order to secure equality of division (c1290 or earlier) < hocher, hochier HOTCH v. + pot POT n.1

Did it really mean a "stew" or "soup," do you think, or was that a metaphor?

I agree with goofy; I think the (later) Anglo-Norman legal term was the metaphor. Cf. the similar shift in meaning in English of potpourri from the original French meaning of stew (it is a calque of Spanish olla podrida (lit., 'rotten pot/stew'). Or how English casserole has shifted from the container (French for saucepan) to the contents; or dish for that matter.

From the OED, here is the earliest quote:

quote:

1426 AUDELAY Poems 29 Cast ham in a hogpoch togedur fore to daunce.

Here is the first one with the clear legal meaning:

quote:

1793 J. PEARSON Polit. Dict. 29 Hodge-Podge, the name of a bill passed at the end of the Session, to lick up every little thing forgot through the negligence of the Secretary of the Treasury, or the hurry of business.

So I guess you are both right. I was responding to that 1292 date from etymology.com, but I don't know where they got it. I had assumed the legal term had come first.

etymology.com

There seems to be little quality control over there: caveat lector.

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:
Or how English casserole has shifted from the container (French for saucepan) to the contents; or dish for that matter.

Or the chief cook (chef de cuisine) to anybody who cooks (chef). Or how cuisine has shifted from the kitchen to the food prepared therein.

quote:

There seems to be little quality control over there: caveat lector.

I have noticed that they seem to copy the OED. But I hadn't seen anything this bad before.